Muffler



1962 B. L. SHEPHERD ETAL 3,017,948

MUFFLER Filed Sept. 12, 1960 all ri-P INVENTORS e uherd 6% Ben L. S1; B0

11 0. Shepherd BY WI ,LM

ATTORNEYS United States Patent P 3,017,948 MUFFLER Ben L. Shepherd and Bob G. Shepherd, both of 4408 Pineridge Road, Columbia, S.C. Filed Sept. 12, 1960, Ser. No. 55,259

- 4 Claims. (Cl. 181-64) This invention relates to mufllers for internal combustion engines.

In order to provide in addition to the sound mufiiing feature of mufilers, a means for breaking up the larger exhaust particles and insuring a thorough mixture of such particles with exhaust gases, it has been proposed in the past to provide some form of fan or turbine arrangements in combination with a bafile structure. Such fan arrangements in the past have been driven either by the force of the exhaust gases or they have been positively driven from a power take-off from some moving part of the engine to which they are attached. Such prior art attempts to solve the problem have met with only limited commercial success for one reason or another.

Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a new and improved muffler structure which combines a normal function of noise deadening with efiicient intermixing of the heavier exhaust particles with the exhaust gases.

A further object of the present invention is to provide, in a mufiler structure, a unique, multiple turbine arrangement which is driven by the pressure of the exhaust gases from the internal combustion engine.

Other objects of the present invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following drawings and detailed description.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a side elevation partially in section, showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the turbine wheel;

FIG. 3 is a section of the center portion of the turbine structure;

FIG. 4 is a plan View of the fan member;

FIG. 5 is a section through 5-5 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevation partially in section of a modified form of turbine structure.

In general, the objects of the present invention are achieved by providing in an elongated cylindrical housing, a bafile structure which is fed by a turbine arrangement including a turbine wheel and a fan mounted on the same shaft and further connected at their peripheries with a plurality of axially extending blade-like members.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, the cylindrical housing is indicated by the reference numeral 10. The housing includes entry and exit ports for the exhaust gases and entry fitting 11 is supported within the entry port, while exit fitting 12 is supported in the exit port. Centrally positioned within the housing is a baffle tube 13. This tube is preferably also cylindrical in cross section and includes a plurality of perforations 14 which communicate between the interior of the bafile tube and the annular space defined by the inner wall of the housing 10 and the outer wall of the bafile tube 13. As viewed in FIG. 1, the left-hand end of the bafile tube is shown flared outwardly at 15 into engagement with the inner wall of the housing 10. At the right-hand end, as shown in FIG. 10, the interior of the baffle tube communicates with the exit fitting 12.

The turbine structure of the present invention appears at the left-hand portion of FIG. I and includes a turbine wheel and a fan wheel 21, each mounted for rotation within the housing on a common shaft 22. Each wheel includes a shroud ring 20A and 21A. The shroud rings of the turbine wheel 20 and the fan wheel 21 are con- 3,017,948 Patented Jan. 23, 1962 2 nected by a plurality of axially extending blade members 23, which are positioned parallel to each other, but angularly disposed with reference to the axle 22.

The axle 22 is journaled at its opposite ends in bearings 24 and 25. Bearing 24 is supported by the housing 10 and is preferably covered by a cap member 26. At the opposite end, the shaft is journaled in a bearing 25 which is supported by a plurality of radially extending struts 29, shown most clearly in FIG. 5.

In operation, the entry port connection 11 is, of course, connected to the exhaust manifold of the engine and the exit port fitting 12 is connected to the tail pipe or exhaust pipe. The entry port fitting, as shown in FIG. 1, is positioned to direct exhaust from the engine directly onto the blades of the turbine wheel 20, which is therefore effective to rotate the entire turbine structure. The turbine structure is effective to provide an intimate mixing of all exhaust particles and gases and the blade members 23 function to centralize the path of flow of the exhaust through the turbine to the fan member 21, which further assists in directing and forcing the exhaust particles into the bafile tube 13.

Referring now to FIG. 6 of the drawings, a modification of the basic turbine structure is shown. The turbine and fan wheels 20 and 21 and interconnecting blade structure 23 are basically unchanged but the axle 22 in this embodiment is made hollow. At its left or intake end, the axle is open to the atmosphere and at its right end, it communicates with the interior of the baffle tube 13. In the center portion which lies between the turbine and fan wheels, the axle is preferably perforated as indicated at 30. This structure allows effective mixing of fresh air with the exhaust products in the center portion of the turbine and when the vehicle on which the mufiler is mounted is in motion, fresh air is forced under positive pressure into the interior of the muflier. This aids in expelling the exhaust products to the atmosphere through the exit port fitting 12 and the tail pipe.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been herein shown and described, variations within the spirit and scope of the present invention are contemplated and intended to be embraced within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A muffler for internal combustion engines comprising: an elongated closed housing having exhaust gas entry and exit ports at opposite ends thereof; a bafile tube of smaller cross-section than and mounted within said housing, communicating with said exit port at one end and flaring outwardly at its opposite end into engagement with the inner surface of said housing; a drive turbine wheel rotatably mounted within said housing adjacent said entry port; a fan wheel also rotatably mounted vw'thin said housing, on the same axis as said turbine wheel, spaced axially therefrom adjacent the flared end of said bafile tube; a plurality of blade members joining said fan and turbine wheels at the periphery thereof; and means communicating with said entry port for directing exhaust gases on said turbine wheel.

2. A mufiier as defined by claim 1 in which said blade members interconnecting said fan and turbine wheels are angularly positioned with respect to the axis of said wheels.

3. A mutfler as defined by claim 1 and including an axle mounting said turbine and fan wheels, said axle being hollow, open at one end to the atmosphere and at the other end to said baflie tube, said axle being perforated between said turbine and fan wheels.

4. A muffier for internal combustion engines comprising: an elongated substantially cylindrical housing having entry and exit ports at opposite ends thereof; a sub- 3 stantially cylindrical'bafiie tube centrally mounted within said housing, one end-communicating withasaid exitvport and theopposite end beingtflared into engagement with the inner surface of said housing; aturbine structure rotatably mounted within said housing between said-flared bafiie tube end andsaid entry-port and including a' turbine wheel adjacent said-entry port, a-fan wheel-=adjacent saidflared end and a pluralityof parallel blades interconnecting-- the peripheral portions of said; wheels; and

means cornmunicatingwith saidentryport fordi-recting 10 exhaust gases on said turbine-wheel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,125,426 Wilson Jan. 19, 1915 1,344,976 B lain et a1. June 29, 1920 1,638,087 Clark Aug. 9, 1927 FOREIGN PATENTS 271,319 Great Britain=- May 26, 1927 

